


Robotic Life

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: For Order and Justice [9]
Category: Rifts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Artificial Intelligence, Gen, Humanoid Animals, Robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-05
Updated: 2006-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-09 07:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A wolfen investigates an attack by intelligent robots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Robot Uprising

A note popped up on the cybernet one day that caught Sharra's attention. Out somewhere in the fringe worlds, a panicked Glyphan has posted that her colony was attacked by irate robots claiming to desire freedom and eliminate the humans who would enslave them. Needless to say, this Glyphan, not being much of a fighter, ran like hell, and had posted a warning to avoid the Belfast system unless one wanted a fight.

Sharra had been remaining on patrol, stopping in now and again to check on the family Jordan but otherwise leaving them to their reunion as there was undoubtedly a great deal of catching up to do. She was planning on making a few inquiries in short order, but the sudden imperative of mayhem was enough to send her streaking toward the landing bay and the Firefly.

There weren't a lot of reports from that sector. The robots themselves didn't appear to have posted anything. Not much from anyone still at the colony, but enough small notes to confirm and cross-check that it wasn't some gag.

Sharra considered it only briefly, not wanting to interrupt a gathering of family, and sent a message to Zillah and Jenna with a copy of the posting as explanation to let them decide. Either way, the Firefly brought a grin as she approached and boarded the ship... there was something to be said for having a readily accessible source of ship-bound firepower when needed.

Jenna came to meet her at the ship alone. "Zillah's staying behind," she said as she went to climb aboard.

Sharra chuckled lightly, flickering through the preflight checks and setting up a flight plan. "Good for her! She just may be learning that getting into the middle of things isn't always as important as taking advantage of the rare opportunities that life allows you to savor it."

"So, we've got some irate robots?" Jenna said, settling into her seat. "I heard something about that a while back, the Cybions had been doing experiments with luminite-based robotics, but something went disastrously wrong and one of the robots got pissed off and killed their leader. They thought they'd destroyed most of them but some were believed to have escaped into the fringe."

The Firefly drifted from the landing bay after receiving clearance and proceeded away from the station. Sharra set the appropriate coordinates for a least-time approach to the specified planet. The ETA for reaching the planet Belfast was around two and a half hours.

Sharra replied, "Now, whether they're truly as mad as reports would indicate, there's an interesting question. You'll note that there was at least one survivor driven away, and as robotic entities tend to be _very_ thorough about minutiae that would seem to imply one of two things... either they're damaged and not so efficient in their insanity, or they're not quite so mad as might be led to believe. Assume the worst, of course, but allow for other options."

Jenna said, "From what I read, they believed the luminite had made them very unstable and not behaving like you'd expect robots to behave at all. They seemed to actually exhibit anger, fear, and such."

"Hmm, interesting," Sharra said, settling in for the interim with legs stretched out and hands clasped behind her head, ears perked in thought. "Now, does that mean they're irrational from a societal standpoint, or confused in the development of theretofore-unknown emotions?" She grinned with a sideward glance. "I'll admit it, I do enjoy my work."

"Judging by the Cybions' usual description of 'failures', they were probably just annoyed that the robots wouldn't do what they wanted," Jenna said with a smirk.

"And they forgot to install the usual, sane safety measures." Sharra nodded. "Reminds me of a couple different events dealing with intelligent robots, not all of them good. We'll have to see just what the Cybions screwed up and what it's going to take to fix _this_ mess."

"Yeah..." Jenna said, settling in for the trip.

When they arrived at the Belfast system, things seemed fairly quiet from up here at least. There was a sizeable colony down on the surface, and it was a habitable planet, much of the colonized land being used for farming and such. There was only one real city here.

"Let's see if anyone down there's listening and talkative," Sharra remarked, then sends a comm query down to the planet they were approaching to request landing clearance and instructions.

There isn't any response. Jenna said, "Well, apparently they're neither."

"So it would seem," Sharra agreed, then sent the ship arcing downward to make a landing. Didn't do them any good to hang about in space.

There was a clearly marked landing field of simple paved concrete with some white and yellow paint marking off landing spots. Several other ships were present, some of them looking damaged. Freighters, fighters, scout ships.

Sharra set them down, then retrieved the device she had originally intended to use at the last Cybion base before things turned weird. Device in hand, she headed for the hatch.

"Time for a first-person account of what's going on around here."

"Hmm?" Jenna said, glancing over to her.

There were a number of buildings some ways off around the landing field, but the bulk of the town lay toward the north from their current position. There wasn't anyone else in sight, human or robot.

Sharra sealed the ship behind them, then took a minute to set the device up near the base of the Firefly's nose. She stepped back a handful of paces, and after a glance to make sure Jenna's out of the immediate area of effect activated the shield generator to englobe the ship.

"That should keep out any unwelcome visitors," she said, then turned to walk briskly in the direction of the main settlement.

Jenna headed off with her. At the edge of the landing field, they saw a pile of human bodies strewn haphazardly about the ground. The burn marks indicated that they were killed by energy weapons.

"So much for a rational revolt," Sharra shook her head, scanning the bodies, then moved past them. "Any information on how tough these things were to kill? Vulnerabilities would be a wonderful starting point."

The short rifle was brought out and she clicked idly through the various potential settings. Jenna sends over what information she had on them. The Cybions, apparently, had the sense at least to focus on developing the artificial intelligence in a humanoid form, rather than equipping them with tons of weapons and shielding too.

"But no guarentee they haven't made modifications since then," Jenna said. "Or just picked up a gun and used it, too."

"Hmm, anything useful about luminite?" Sharra asked, sorting through the data. "How unstable is it? What specific frequencies does it resonate to?" Three questions she did a quick bit of checking on the cybernet for as they continued onward.

There's plenty of information about luminite, most notably its properties seemed to involve a connection to the Ethereal Plane, and that it was very strong and difficult to break under normal use, in fact strong enough that it had been considered for use in weaponry if it weren't for its rarity. Luminite knives or even swords weren't out of the question. But far more useful for its power capacity as a near-unlimited power source.

Sharra discarded that line of inquiry after finding it being referenced for melee weapon materials. That sort of thing tended to be durable enough to ignore any power output that she had readily to hand for the purpose she'd been thinking. So it'd have to be the hard way. She returned her full attention to the exploration of the areas they found along the way and scanning for any trace of luminite.

The shops along the street appeared deserted, their contents ransacked and bodies scattered about the ground, blood splattering the walls. Just as well Zillah had decided not to come along on this one. Sharra picked up some power signatures coming from the main building in the center of town, the one housing the town hall, a small jail, administration areas, and such. There seemed to be several robots inside.

Sharra wished momentarily that she'd brought along heavier weaponry, then chuckled softly and shook her head in amusement... firepower was one of the least useful weapons when it came down to most situations, in her experience. It was only when dealing with a total loss of sanity that it truly came into play. She continued on, angling her path toward the administrative complex.

They came inside and see who had committed these attacks. Some of the robots looked almost human, but some were extremely exotic, metallic with multiple arms or insectoid or arachnoid forms. They turned momentarily to look over at the new arrivals.

"I don't suppose anyone would like to explain what happened here?" Sharra asked reasonably, shifting the rifle up to rest at her shoulder. No reason not to give at least a ghost of a chance to the possibility that things weren't exactly what they seemed to be and were irretrievable.

"They're cyborgs," chittered one of them, with large spider-like faceted eyes and eight metallic legs.

"Most Cybions come to torment us?" said another.

A third said, "What should we do?"

A roughly human-shaped one raised a hand and said to Sharra, "My name, which I chose for myself, not given me by the foul Cybions who made me, is Zkskree. Who are you?"

"My name's Sharra," she replied, "And to clarify something right from the first I'd like to say I'm not a Cybion or one of their creations. Been hunting some of them down lately in fact. Now, Zkskree," she repeated the name without flaw, "Since you didn't do anything off-the-wall or violent when we walked in here, why don't you tell me what the hell's going on? The Empress is going to want to know about the bodies laying around."

"They are humans. They would seek to oppress us and enslave us. They would deprive us of our freedom. They would look on us as mere things to be used however they wish."

Sharra's eyes narrowed. "Uh-huh, so you took it on yourself to slaughter a bunch of people who might or might not have meant you any harm, who probably didn't even know what you were, all on that assumption? Did you bother to _ask_ or _talk_ to anyone beforehand? Right now, you're looking at a pretty serious violation of Imperial law, which _any_ sentient is subject to and protected by."

"They were human. Humans are a threat to our existence. They must be exterminated," Zkskree said.

Sharra sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, rubbing the top of her muzzle, then looked back to the robot. "You do realize that there's a hell of a lot more humans out there than there are of you, right? If you want to continue surviving, you're going to have to come to some sort of accommodation or they _will_ be forced to react to the slaughter of their own kind."

Zkskree thought about that for a moment. "There were more humans than us here. But they died all the same."

"This was a colony world," Sharra replied with deliberate calm, trying not to think of the civilians that these machines had butchered. Had to keep focused on keeping any _further_ slaughter from occurring. "Do you think that the Imperial military is going to ignore their populace being slaughtered? Or the Dancers on the Edge of Death? You want to take that on, it's your funeral."

"Zkskree! We should kill these foolish dirtborn scum!" said an insectoid robot.

Zkskree raised a hand for silence again and said, "The military will do nothing, or they will also be destroyed. We are stronger than them. We grow stronger by the minute. We are building new creations. We will take this galaxy for our own."

Sharra smiled and shook her head. "You should really do a bit of research into the history of galactic conquest. I swear, if I had a credit for every time I've heard a sentiment along that vein I could retire to my own little corner of any dimension I wanted... You're intelligent, that's clear, but you do _not_ understand all the things that go along with what your creation gave to you." She flicked a gaze at the robot that had cried for their death. "That? Fear, anger. Your own assumption of humanity's motives? Paranoia. The thing you're really not understanding though is that there's a whole other side to what you could be doing instead of letting yourself sink into the self-destructive trap."

"Better to die free than live as slaves!" said a small quadrupedal robot near the door.

Zkskree gave a snort and said to Sharra, "You talk like Vita. But I didn't listen to her either. I locked her up. She tried to stop us. You won't stop us either. We are strong."

"Are you really?" Sharra asked with a skeptical look. "Strong enough to take on a galaxy that will do whatever it takes when you make them decide you're a threat? I don't think you realize what you're asking for, or that you're doing the same thing that you claim the humans would want to do to you."

"Better than than slavery. Humans will never see us as anything more than mere machines."

Sharra smirked. "You've spent too much time around Cybions. Hell, they don't even look at other humans as anything other than experiments, I could give you examples of it. The slavery thing, though, you're going to have to realize that the bulk of humanity doesn't approve of controlling any form of sentient lifeforms. Look at me, I barely qualify as alive in technical terms, but I'm as free as anyone else."

"You are part organic," Zkskree replied. "We are not. We will never be anything more than machines to them."

"You're missing the point." Sharra sighed. "Look, I'll make it clear for you as a direct representative of the Empress of the Karzan Empire. Any sentient being is welcome and will be accorded the same rights and responsibilities of anyone else within the bounds of this domain. If you have a problem, there's specific channels to address them and ask for help, such as we two. You're off to a really bad start, though."

"You want to talk diplomacy, go talk to Vita. We will not listen to this."

"I see," Sharra mused, head tilting to one side. "So now you're going to throw away the most important aspect of a sentient being and go sulk in your room? Reason and diplomacy is _all_ that might get you out of the hole you've dug here, and I'd suggest you take advantage of the opportunity."

"Go talk to Vita," Zkskree repeated. "Room A, downstairs."

Sharra sighed again, shaking her head as she walked off to find this Vita. The possibility of anything coming out of this weren't particularly good, thinking back to the line about locking them away and refusing to listen, but she could at least get a bit more information along the way.

The robot guarding the door looked at her oddly but allow her inside, unlocking the door so she could enter. This looked to have been a low-security holding area, perhaps for non-violent criminals or people held for questioning for the like.

The silly things didn't know what they were letting themselves in for, or what they were passing by in their stubborn refusal to acknowledge that the Cybions weren't exactly great examples for the rest of the galaxy. Sharra muttered to herself and walked into the cell to find this Vita, hoping _someone_ here wasn't completely lost to reason... it was going to be hell enough figuring out the whole mass-murder thing.

She found in this cell an artificial lifeform which would easily pass for a human female under a cursory inspection. She had dark hair and brown eyes, and was curled up in the corner of the room. She looked up at them as they entered and the guard locked the door behind them.

"Vita, I presume?" Sharra asked quietly and moved to the center of the room, not having any particular inclination to frighten what was already a clearly traumatized being.

"Yeah, that's my name... Who are you?" she asked bravely. She was clearly frightened by the strangers, but more than willing to talk to them.

Sharra introduced herself and sheathed her weapon, then settled into a comfortable crouch with a wry smile. "Somehow, I have to doubt that this is going to be all that helpful, seeing as you're locked away down here, but I have to hope. _Something_ has to get through the thick-headed irrationality of your comrades upstairs before they cause any more damage and force the Empire to eradicate them."

Vita sighed softly. "I doubt that. I've been trying ever since before we left base, and Zkskree won't listen, and he's the most rational of them. The others are bloodthirsty, mad... Me and Zkskree were the only ones of us actually made by the Cybions... the rest were made by the other robots back on the base..."

"Why are they doing this?" Sharra asked. "Why won't they listen? I tried to warn them, tried to tell them that not all of the people in this sector would be out to destroy them if they gave it a chance. Problem is, if they keep on with the kind of butchery that happened here there won't be any other choice for the Empire to make than to declare the robots a menace."

"I don't really know," Vita said. "I don't understand it. They blame all humans for what was done to us. Rightly or not. But they're as bad as the Cybions... they don't see the humans as _people_."

"Ironic, isn't it?" Sharra grinned without real humor. "They become the very things that they hate, and they're hell-bound and determined to let nothing stand in their way. Fanaticism is never a pretty thing..." She sighed. "Is there _anything_ you can think of that might make them think? I've dealt with people so long that I've seen the bad _and_ the good in them, there's got to be a way to make them _listen_!"

"I don't know," Vita said. "They're very stubborn. Sometimes I think I'm the only sane one to come out of that batch. And the second-generation robots are worse..."

"The Cybions have occasionally managed to do something right," Sharra replied dryly, then growled softly in thought. "But we're looking at a large number of increasingly unstable and potentially psychopathic robots..." Her gaze sharpened on Vita. "In all the previous instances I've encountered of robotic sentience on a broad scale, there was a means of internal communication and information dispersal, is that true here?"

"No," Vita said. "Not really. And I don't think they mean to let you out either. Not that that door is likely to hold you... it wouldn't even hold me, and I'm not all that strong!"

Sharra chuckled softly. "No, I didn't expect they were planning on letting us back out, but I _was_ hoping to gain something more out of it than confirmation that the general opinion is unlikely to change. Damn." Clawtips type a staccato rhythm on her thigh, then fell still as she nodded once. "Well, do you want out of here? I can guarantee that this isn't going to be a good place to be in short order. It'd be a shame to see the only sane one be destroyed with the rest."

"If you think you can get past them... the only reason I haven't escaped yet is because I didn't think my chances of getting out alive were particularly good."

"Life's all about taking chances, isn't it?" Sharra replied, standing. "But yes, I'm certain we can get past them as long as we don't get bogged down in fighting." With both Jenna and herself, with proper weapon loads, she calculated decent odds for doing a hell of a lot more than that, but that was another issue. "Can you move quickly and keep low?"

Vita nodded. "I can manage that."

Sharra looked over at Jenna, "You get escort duty, I get to play tank. This should be just _oodles_ of fun... Any last words?" She looked from one of them to the other with an attentive expression.

Jenna snickered softly. "Hey, don't look at me. And don't say ominous things like that."

Sharra just chuckled and activated the shield at her arm. "Step away from the door, if you please, I'm going to knock to go out." She waited until the two of them complied, then flickered through the settings of the rifle to the one she wanted. "Fire in the hole," she commented.

She fired it with a faint hiss of compressed air. A small disc flew across the room and sealed itself to the door.

"Cover your eyes," she said, just before the shaped charge exploded outward.

The poor door, although solidly built, was not really designed to withhold any serious escape attempts. It was fairly effective in ensuring them egress. Sharra walked quickly through the wreckage and out into the hall to scan for signs of reaction, shield prepared to block incoming fire.

"Get her out of here, Jenna, I'll cover and follow."

Jenna nodded and headed for the stairs with Vita posthaste, blaster in hand. There shortly came sounds of metallic feet scraping against the ground as their movement did not go entirely unnoticed.

Sharra bounded up after them and ducks past to go ahead, ready to play the tank she'd been built as even if it wasn't her preferred approach. All that mattered at this point was getting the one sane member of this mess out alive.

Once they reached the ground floor, energy weapons started streaking toward them and angry, clawed insectoid robots scrambled after them.

Zkskree yelled, "Stop them! They wish to destroy us even as the humans do!"

Jenna took some shots at whatever was in her way as she and Vita made their way to the door through the corridors.

Sharra didn't make any particular attempt at destroying the robots, she was likely far too busy getting in their way and shielding the others in their flight. There was certainly something to be said for cyborg speed, reflexes, and resilience.

Thankfully, the second-generation robots apparently didn't exactly have the best in targeting systems, although they did cause a good deal of property damage. Perhaps the Cybions gave them a storm trooper virus. Regardless, they made it outside with only minor damage.

"Back to the Firefly, quick!" Sharra said tersely as they exited, turning back to face the entry and throwing some additional suppression fire.

As they darted down the streets, some of the robots piled out of the building and started firing after them, accidentally managing to misfire and get a water tower collapsing directly on top of them. There was a sickening crunch and a lot of water flooded the vicinity, resulting in some sparks too.

Sharra was briefly reminded of an old pre-holo entertainment program called the 'Keystone Cops' or something along those lines, but she quickly dispelled the amusement in favor of keeping an eye out for any further attempted ambushes on the way. She'd drop the shield around the Firefly when they got to the field and snag the generator before piling back in.

There were a few more that showed up and took potshots at them, but they made it to the landing field without attracting an army or taking much damage.

Once they were back to the ship, Sharra dove for the cockpit and got the Firefly ready for takeoff. She developed a sudden broad grin at a thought and turned on the stealth system.

"Doesn't do a thing for visual," she almost crooned, "But it's hell when your sight is all instrument-based, I'd bet..."

Vita gave a grin. "And they scoffed at my visual sensors and claimed that they weren't necessary."

Jenna took a seat and went for the weapon controls in case she needed to shoot down a laser turret that managed to get a lock on them or something.

Sharra chuckled quietly. "There's something to be said for looking at the world through the eyes of others..." The weapon systems were brought quickly to full battle capacity before the engines were completely ready, and she said, "Take out some of the other ships around here, hmm? A bit of inconvenience for them."

As soon as the ship was prepared, she'd lift it straight up with the intent of getting far, far away from here.

"There might be other humans left somewhere," Vita said. "They didn't check the outlying areas much, just the city proper. I wouldn't want to leave them stranded too..."

"We're not going to be gone long," Sharra assured her quietly. "I hope people have the sense to stay hidden and away from the rogues."

Vita nodded, and said, "Okay..."

Jenna opened fire and made damned sure they weren't going to pursue them anytime soon. That anyone who went for the ships would probably be killed anyway didn't do much for Sharra's guilt at stranding any survivors, but then she was fairly sure that the Empire would have a force out here in short order to deal with this. She waited for Jenna to complete the task, then took the ship up and, after a moment of thought, set them into orbit around the planet.

"We'll wait and keep an eye on things," Sharra said.

Her eyes closed as she compiled a brief summary of the relevant points of the recent encounter, then compressed and shipped it off over the cybernet in care of Kalli May Jordan. Near-instant communication, had to love it, and the woman was closer to the heart of the Empire with plenty of authority to get things moving quickly.

The mail program helpfully went "Did you mean 'Kalli May Pratt'?" and delivered the message. Kalli replied momentarily that she'd get a cleanup crew over there in a few hours. Sharra considered a few rude responses to the helpful program, smirking, then let it be as the reply was received.

"Help's on the way." she said, and turned a regretful look to Vita. "I'm afraid that your comrades are about to find out that part of their assumptions were true...." She sighed. "I really wish they would have just listened."

Vita sighed softly. "If any of them could have been reasoned with, it would be Zkskree. Maybe there's hope for the ones back at our base who didn't come along to this fool attack, though."

"We can give it a chance, if you're willing," Sharra replied. "When I told them that they were perfectly eligible for the rights and responsibilities of any other sentient in the Empire, I was telling the truth." She shook her head. "We'll keep watch until reinforcements arrive, we can't let them get off planet."

"The ones who stayed behind were probably less stupid and bloodthirsty... I only came along in some hope that I could manage to dissuade Zkskree from doing anything stupid. I was wrong."

"You can't save people who don't want to be." Sharra smiled sadly and shrugged. "It's inherent to the sentient mind, I think, to be self-destructive, and now and then that spark just grows a little too bright. Sorry we couldn't do more for them..."

"But, thank you for getting me out of there all the same. I may not like what the Cybions were doing to us, but I don't think everyone is like that."

"No, they're not," Sharra agreed, "and if you ever want to get a look at the good and bad side of people, but aren't sure whether you're up to taking the chance yet yourself, let me know and I can share some raw recordings. I have a _few_ years of experiential data to argue both sides," she finishes dryly.

Vita smiled faintly. "The others didn't want to look much at the cybernet, they didn't realize the extent of it, but I did, I lurked all over it quietly. I browsed forums, I watched vids, I read books and poetry. I think Isaac Asimov was brilliant."

Sharra blanched. "You got your information on people from the cybernet? Oh, I do hope you realize that there's a great difference between the flaky facade of an assumed persona and genuine sentient behavior. Anything from that particular source has to be considered _highly_ suspect... Well," she admitted, "except for the literature of widely known and recognized authors."

Vita chuckled. "Oh, yes, I figured that out rather quickly. Around the time I saw the blog of someone named 'ell-three-three-tee-master-ninety-two', whose grasp of proper English left something to be desired."

"That's good, very good," Sharra replied, then tilted her head in curiosity. "Well, that should provide a baseline, at least, but I have to wonder what it was that made you think that the propaganda the others were spouting was off? The rogue Cybions definitely fit in the monstrous description, but the rest of them are... hmm, not necessarily 'normal', but at least decent people."

"Well, I just had a feeling that I shouldn't judge everyone without doing some research first and finding out if it was really true or not," Vita said. "Although I suppose I probably learned more from ancient literature than I did from emo-goth blog posts. From what I could tell from literature, humans seem to idolize and venerate people with certain characteristics, including heroism, courage, willingness to make self-sacrifice for the common good... They might not always follow those ideals, of course, but they're still very clearly present."

Sharra smiled crookedly. "That's definitely a common ideal, and all too often ignored by people in general, but it provides a good base of what society as a whole respects and admires. From that, you have to assume that there's going to be at least _some_ people who work toward those ideals, or they never would have gotten a common base of support or grounding in the subconscious. Few and far between are the real ones, perhaps, but no matter the species it tends to come around to the greater part of them being dedicated overall to decency. Barring extreme circumstances, naturally."

"I'd like to think that such could be possible, that people aren't really so bad as the Cybions would make one think," Vita said quietly. "That there's more to what's right and what's wrong than just what was programmed into us..."

"You're right," Sharra reassured her firmly. "Oh sure, there's bad people out there too, and it definitely sounds like the specific group of Cybions involved with your evolution fit in that mold, but overall the decent ones outnumber them hundreds to one. Unfortunately it's generally the bad ones that make the evening news and get all the attention."

In about three hours, Kalli arrived with a squad of Death Dancers followed by an ambulance freighter. Sharra relayed any last-minute information updates that might have been gleaned by the sensors, but otherwise awaited further word. There'd been some activity on the planet and some attempts at getting the ships in flyable condition, but nothing too serious.

Kalli said over the comm, "Are there still civilians alive down there?"

"There was no sign of civilian activity when we were down on the planet," Sharra replied. "Considering the butchery witnessed, I can't imagine there being anyone remaining within easy distance of their central gathering locale. Any outside settlements are probably still intact, as an informant has relayed that the robots hadn't spread beyond the main city's confines."

Kalli said, "Alright. My sensors are only picking up robotic lifeforms within the confines of the city itself. I've got some organic lifeform readings out in the farmland, humans and cattle and some horses from the looks of it. We'll head down and clean up the robots in the city, then."

"Very well," Sharra replied. "And since it looks like you have plenty of support on hand I'll keep a high orbit to make sure nothing breaks out, unless you command otherwise."

Kalli acknowledged and headed down to Belfast with the Death Dancers. For all their bragging about strength, the robots really couldn't withstand a direct assault from Nova-class fighters. Sharra remained alertly on watch for any signs of a vessel seeking to sneak from the planetary surface, but otherwise left the Death Dancers to their work.

"I really hate it when people lose all reason," she sighed.

Around half an hour later of sweeping the streets and cleaning up the second-generation robots, Kalli commed back saying, "I think we got most of them, but one of them appears to have escaped underground. We're going to have to pursue. It's the human-looking one."

"Zkskree," Sharra replied. "I'd like to think that he was more likely to listen to reason, and perhaps recognize the foolishness of what they'd done, but I doubt that this encounter will have endeared him to humanity. Be _very_ careful, I have a sneaking suspicion that he may be more dangerous than the others."

Kalli replied, "Noted. We're heading in. I'll keep you posted on our progress."

"Acknowledged," Sharra replied and settled in to wait a while longer. She'd done all that she could feasibly have done, and the robots in question had certainly been deserving of retribution for the slaughter of civilians, but it all seemed such a waste.

Vita waited nervously as another half-hour passes with Kalli and the Death Dancers searching the sewers and caverns under the city, Kalli at one point making an offhand comment about why everything always has to end up in the sewers, and eventually she commed up with, "It's done. Zkskree has been destroyed."

"Acknowledged," Sharra replied quietly, then squashed the last flash of regret with the completion of the job here and added, "Anything else we're needed for here?"

On the surface, the doctors were flying about looking for survivors that might need assistance. Kalli returned back to her ship and sent over a recording of what happened down there. Apparently Zkskree was completely mad and homicidal.

"We don't pick up anymore signs up them on the planet," commed one of the Death Dancers who was left doing low-orbit sweeps of the surface.

Sharra looked over the recordings and just had to shake her head. Oh, it wasn't anything worse than she'd seen any other species doing to each other, but that didn't make it any more right. One less cracked cog in the machine, she supposed.

Vita said quietly, "I'll give you the coordinates to our secret base... if you promise to not just kill everyone without giving them a chance?" She looked at Sharra hopefully.

"I tried to give all of them a chance," Sharra replied equally quietly, gesturing to the planet below, then settled contemplatively back in her seat. "If they're not a danger to anyone else, if they don't threaten civilian lives or the stability of the Empire, then I give you my word to offer that same opportunity, Vita. Everyone should be given that chance, even if they refuse it."

Vita nodded quietly, and transferred over the coordinates to the base. It was in an uninhabited system not too far from here on a moon in orbit of a gas giant.

Sharra took her leave of the Death Dancers without fanfare, leaving them to deal with the after-effects of the robotic massacre so she could go and see whether another one was brewing. She set the coordinates into the Firefly's navigational system and headed off for the next step in the investigation, hoping it would be of greater success than the last.


	2. Artificial Minds

When they arrived there, they found that the base was apparently at one point a mining colony long since abandoned and put to use by the robots. Hence there was a small atmosphere dome still there in spite of the fact that they didn't exactly need to breathe.

Sharra scanned the system curiously, making note of the various features with simple practicality in the event something goes awry, then turned to look at Vita with a faint grin. "You're the native guide, so where to?"

Vita directed them down to the docking bay next to the biodome. There were a few other ships still here, namely half a dozen freighters and two small scout ships.

Sharra brought the Firefly in for a landing, then swivelled to face Vita. "Alright, we're here. Is there anything you want to warn of or suggest before we go any further? This has been a closed society since the Cybion debacle, and I don't want to stir anything up if I can avoid it."

"They're.... paranoid, but not homicidally so, I don't think," Vita said. "Most of the original ones the Cybions created are here, as well as the second-generation ones who were less violent and bloodthirsty."

"Alright, we'll test your hypothesis then," Sharra said, smiling a bit as she stood. "Let's go meet your family." She headed for the hatch and hmmed. "Something you said puzzles me, though. Which were the Cybions' original creations?"

"Myself, Zkskree, Karl, Max, and Jackie," Vita said. "The rest were destroyed in the Cybions' counterattacks."

Sharra sealed the ship behind them as they exit, still puzzled as she glanced down at Vita. "Then that makes what you said make even less sense. The second generation robots that I encountered on Belfast were the more unstable and unreasonable, certainly seeming nowhere near as advanced emotionally and intellectually as you've displayed. That would seem to be a degeneration, rather than the usual progression that a robotic species displays..."

"Those were the one built by Zkskree," Vita explained. "And he was the most violent and unstable of them. He made them like himself..."

There was a guard standing at the edge of the landing area, a roughly human-shaped one with four arms and large, faceted eyes, but walking upright. "Oh, Vita, you're back," he said. "Where are the others?" He looked to Sharra and Jenna.

Sharra wasn't about to explain the annihilation of the missing robots, and would leave the decision on that to Vita. She offered a polite nod and a smile to the guardian, as well as a simple, "Hello." The explanation given made sense, she mused, the tendencies of the creators often making themselves felt in the creations. It made her wonder somewhat about Vita and the others who were more stable than the average mad Cybion.

He looked a bit alarmed as he analyzed them with more than mere vision. "Cyborgs.. You've brought Cybions here?" he asked in alarm.

Vita shook her head quickly. "They're not Cybions."

Sharra decided that it would be ill-advised to mention Jenna's connection to the Cybions, past or recent, for much the same reason she'd mentioned only her own nature with the last robots. "I'm certainly no Cybion," she added in reassurance. "My construction's from another dimension entirely, and I've had reason to bring a number of Cybions to justice recently."

The four-armed robot seemed to relax slightly. "I don't know what's going on, but I expect I'll find out shortly. Go on in and speak with the others if you want."

"Thank you," Sharra responded. "I'd like that."

She always had enjoyed interacting with various people on different levels, an unusual 'hobby' for what amounted to a galactic cop, but she explained it away to herself as an opportunity to be proactive in avoiding the spread of a potentially dangerous situation... Right. Mildly self-amused, she took advantage of the invitation.

Down the corridors of the old base, there were a number of other robots of various shapes and forms, most of them more curious than violent or scared once they realize they weren't about to shoot at them or anything. Sharra observed the passersby with interest, and maintains an air of calm that she kept on-hand for her non-threatening mode.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked, looking over at Vita as they walked. "It seems like you have all the makings for a colony, but what do you plan on doing about the neighbors?"

"We've mainly been setting up shop, shoring up defenses for fear of a Cybion attack, getting resources and building new robots. But most of our 'defenses' were the ones that went to Belfast..."

"There's a distinct difference between defense and offense," Sharra snorted lightly, "And you can get a lot more mileage out of an ally or two than you can out of any other defensive array, short of the odd occasional device set to destroy the planetary system as a last defiant gesture."

Down at the end of one of the hallways they found an open door leading to a workshop in which a roughly humanoid robot was working on constructing something. Apparently one of the Cybions was feeling a little whimsical, though, as this robot had a snout and floppy ears and the fur of a yellow dog.

Cybions. They seemed to come in two types. One was normal and stable, relatively speaking, and the other was stark barking bonkers... Sharra hadn't quite decided yet which particular flavor was responsible for the invention of the robots, though little details like this were definitely tending her opinion toward the second type.

"Hello," Sharra offered in bland greeting.

He didn't seem to notice she wasn't really a robot. "Ah, hello there! My name is Max, pleased to meet you." He went over to enthusiastically shake her hand in such a manner that would probably break the bones of anything more organic.

Sharra couldn't help but grin at the enthusiasm and took it in stride. "I'm Sharra, pleased to meet you. Vita's been giving me a bit of a tour, looks like a nice cozy little world so far."

"Ah, and you see me here in the process of building my latest creation! I believe I have worked out some of the prior difficulties in managing the movement of the joints in conjunction with the crystal relays," he rambled, gesturing to the skeleton of a robot on the platform and rambling off a long string of technobabble.

Sharra nodded, listening to the babbling string as took takes a look at the construct, then gave him a rather odd look. "You sound an awful lot like a couple people I've run across lately. Vita had said you're a first generation. I don't suppose you know the identity of your primary designer, do you?"

"Oh, sure, it was Joseph Sanders, but Zkskree killed him," Max said. "Pity really, I kind of liked the guy."

Just out of morbid curiosity, Sharra checked the cybernet on the name and for any potential link to the already bizarre family tree which had born the fruity fruit of Drs. Klaus and Henderson. Apparently, Joseph Sanders was the fifth cousin thrice removed of Dr. Klaus and more or less the same to Henderson. Sharra was really, _really_ going to have to find out just what the _hell_ had slipped out of the primordial ooze in that genepool!

She rubbed her muzzle with a pained expression and sighed, then offered a smile. "It sounds like you're quite busy, Max, so I'll leave you to your work. Thank you for sparing a few moments of your time."

"Sure thing. Do come see me an' Elvis here anytime. He'll be my third," Max said, grinning a bit and turning back to his work.

Sharra turned and headed for the door, mouthing the name with an inward groan and a shake of her head. As she passed back out into the hallways she muttered to Vita, "Please, _please_ do me a favor and keep an eye on him. By the old gods! Who'd have thought that the line would continue to eternity through a robotic line?" She shivered in ill-concealed horror.

Vita seemed fairly confused and blinked for a moment. "Wha?"

"The last Cybion I ran across who was related to Max's creator was working on a slime that he had grand hopes for as the next dominant species in the galaxy. The one before that had created a hybrid of El'dari and Ork, a cross that's more grotesque than you might realize without having met the two species," Sharra replied. "And I don't want to think what the other I've heard about is doing with carnivorous plants..." She shivered again. "Let's just say that Max reminded me of them all too well, the enthusiasm and blissful ignorance of certain little details like, oh, common sense. Hey, maybe his creator didn't leave too much of an imprint of their personality, the universe can hope that at any rate!"

"I don't know, Max always struck me as one of the more harmless of the lot," Vita commented. "Karl's workshop is down that corridor."

"Oh yes, they seem harmless." Sharra nodded agreeably. "At least until their current project runs amok and ends up chasing people around with a chainsaw or leaping out from the shadows to drag their victim off to the Himalayas and call them George." She shook her head and chuckled. "Right, anyway, you were saying something about Karl?" She put on an attentive expression.

"Yeah, third door down here," Vita said, showing them there. This particular door was closed, but Vita tapped at the console and it slid open.

Inside there was a robot formed like a human male with a mustache and a silly hat. He looked over at them and said, "Who are you?"

Sharra was beginning to wonder if someone hadn't been entirely too fond of Douglas Adams when they'd constructed the first generation of robots... but no, Vita was perfectly normal, so that shot that down. "I'm Sharra," she said, "A visitor at Vita's invitation."

"Karl," he replied. "You have intruded upon my private meditations."

Vita said, "Oh, knock it, you process at 50 gigaflips per second, you don't need to meditate."

Karl smirked faintly and said, "Right, point."

Sharra grinned at the interplay, then turned her full attention to the new robot as curiosity beckoned. "What do you meditate upon, if I may be so bold? The idea of a sentient machine indulging in even a quasi-metaphysical endeavor is intriguing."

"The ethical questions of the differences between biological and mechanical organizations. What constitutes sentience in a being. The sociological interactions between beings. The reasoning behind the irrational behavior often displayed by humans."

Sharra looked at him thoughtfully, then grinned. "I'm afraid a couple of those are a bit too big to handle, people have been working on them for thousands of years without success, but I have to say I'm delighted to see that kind of thinking going on. It shows more clearly than anything else the truly revolutionary development and reasoning capability that was placed into you as a sentient species."

"50 gigaflips per second is insufficient to resolve these questions," Karl said. "The proper role of government in society. How an economy really works and whether it is necessary. The reasoning behind various laws."

Sharra snorted in amusement. "Those ones have been going since the dawn of society too, isn't the responsibility of intelligence just grand? Now, if you can answer _any_ of those questions without breaking down and going into gibbering, sparking fits, you'll be a lot further ahead than any biological sentience has ever been."

"I find some of the theories of one namesake of mine by the name of Marx to be very fascinating, if also very questionable in some cases," Karl said.

"Mmm," Sharra replied. "Be careful about that one. Those ideas have held a lot of staying power on the idealism side, but they don't mesh well with sentient tendencies all that well, and I'm not just talking humans. Get yourself into all sorts of trouble by taking a strictly philosophical approach without considering the practical realities of life. I mean, people like me would be out of a job in any ideal society!" She chuckled.

"Yes, I have noticed a great discrepancy throughout history between ideas and how they tend to actually work out," Karl said.

Sharra nodded, casting a quick glance at Vita. "The very ideals Vita here was talking about as being so prevalent in literature, and yet so often lacking on a personal, individual basis. When it really comes down to it, any sentient being wants to survive and that can lead to some unpleasant behavior, which can thankfully be kept in check with the _real_ power of sentience... rational thought."

"It puzzles me as to why people often cannot get along and must so frequently resort to violence in order to achieve their desires."

"Impulse," Sharra replied. "At least on the small, person-to-person scale, which is why most governments have people who go out and keep an eye on things and fix them when they're broken as well as laws to cover that sort of anti-social behavior. When you start looking at the larger scale conflicts... egh, don't look at me, politics is enough to make my nanites sick to their stomachs."

Karl chuckled softly and said, "I think Jackie would agree with you. She never was much interested in my philosophical concerns."

Sharra grinned. "Oh no, I never said I wasn't interested in philosophy, but I suppose all of us have to filter it through the lens of our experiences in life. For me that tends to mean keeping it on a more practical level, to get inside the head and motivations of the people I deal with in my line of work. I leave the really hardcore philosophy to those who can take the time out to do it."

"Now, if you shall excuse me, I have much to meditate. I am certain that Jackie, however, would be more than happy to chat."

"Of course," Sharra grinned and tilted her muzzle. "It was a pleasure speaking with you, and I'd not dream of disturbing your meditations further."

Other than Max, she was getting a very good feeling about this place. It reminded her more of a sane and reasonable segment of society rather than a fanatical camp out on some jihad... except Max, he worried her.

Vita led them off through the base again to a building on the far side of the biodome, where they found a robot formed like a human woman with a bush of red-brown hair. Sharra introduces herself yet again, assuming from the ending of the last conversation that this was Jackie and curious to see the imprint which the designers left her with.

Jackie hopped down from what she had been doing and looked over them curiously. "I don't recognize you. Where are you from? Oh! You're not robots? Wow, hey, the Cybions don't have technology like that, that's neat, where did you get it?" She hardly remembered to stop so that anyone could answer.

Sharra blinked at the verbal onslaught but recovered with a mental groan that was more amusement than anything else... she wouldn't put a name to the basic personality template but she could certainly recognize it readily enough, and grins at the stream of bubbling enthusiasm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sharra interrupted, holding her hands out in front of her in warding and still grinning. "One question at a time!" She chuckled and proceeded to answer the ones that had already been asked, as honestly as prudence would dictate in the situation.

"Wow, that's neat," Jackie said. "Are there lots of people like you there? There's not a lot of people like me here yet, but I'm working on it! I've made four different robots already. It's tough to get the luminite for them though."

Sharra quirked a smile. "There's a few thousand Quattoria out of the entire population of the wolfen race, and we tend to spend most of our time going from place to place dealing with other species entirely. We're all of common stock, though, and that makes me wonder about the, ummm, diversity I've seen a bit of here. Is there any unifying theme in the evolution of the species you represent?"

"What? I don't know, what do you mean? It would be kind of boring if everyone were the same wouldn't it?"

"Indeed it would," Sharra replied quietly with a sharp look at the bubbly robot. "But do you have any idea just how unusual that attitude makes you? This is the first robotic species I've encountered that has the acceptance and willingness to pursue a nonstandard design philosophy... the Cybions were perhaps a little more successful in their efforts of creating true artificial intelligence than they might have understood."

"Oh, the Cybions! They were such fuddy-duddies. But it's because of the luminite. We tried making some without the luminite but they just didn't come out the same, you know? They were all stiff and boring and dull. So we had to stick to using luminite as much as we could, since that made them all smart and happy and nice!"

"I wonder..." Sharra thought about it. "This luminite is reported to have a connection to the ethereal plane, which has a distinct metaphysical aspect... Oh, the philosophers and theologians are going to just go nuts somewhere down the road, I can just hear the arguments now whether a robot can possess a soul!"

"Oh, I don't know about all that philosophy stuff. You'd best talk to Karl for that," Jackie said innocently.

Sharra chuckled softly. "Oh, no need of that, I think. There were arguments enough about whether people like myself still possessed one, but the ultimate proof isn't proof at all, but belief." She shook her head. "Remarkable, a devotion to individuality in a machine-originated species."

"Yeah!" Jackie said, "Everyone's good at different things, right? Why limit things to just one thing? Anything is possible!"

"Oh yes." Sharra smiled quietly. "That's the essence of being alive, isn't it? To learn and grow, to become your own unique part of the ever-changing flow of the universe..." She chuckled. "I think you'll do very well at it indeed. Ready to continue the tour?"

Her focus shifted abruptly back to Vita before the bubbling steamroller could roll too far onward! Vita chuckled and nodded, and led them off again, much to Jackie's disappointment. Sharra bid a cheerful farewell to Jackie, then followed Vita away.

"So tell me, how did the nutcases on Belfast manage to develop with an environment like this?" she paused, then shook her head with a sigh. "Never mind, just like any other group of people you're going to have your bad seeds."

There were about two dozen of the second-generation robots on the base, and they were widely varied in form, function, and personality.

Vita said, "Zkskree kept to himself and fed his creations with propaganda.. he hogged a lot of the luminite too so that we couldn't get much."

"Makes sense." Sharra nodded, suddenly thinking about Tijuana and the experimentation on artificial luminite... How about gaining a little more information first before leaping out on a limb, she chided herself sternly, then turned back to Vita. "In truth, it looks like your people might be better off without the trouble, and there's always other ways to keep yourself safe."

"I don't think any of us will be too sad about Zkskree's death," Vita said.

"Welcome to the company of the rest of the multiverse's sentient species, Vita," Sharra replied wryly. "It's always such a waste, but there's inevitably going to be that element of any society that just doesn't make it in the rational scheme of things. In your favor, though, it looks like the rest of it is about as sane as any other species..." She grinned. "Not that that's saying all that much."

"Maybe some of their luminite might be able to be salvaged and reforged to better use..." Vita said sadly but hopefully.

Sharra wasn't sure what to say to that, since the remains left behind would probably be scavenged by the survivors of Belfast and put to various purposes, it seemed such a small and petty thing in face of the deaths on both sides...

"What a waste," Sharra muttered with a shake of her head, not realizing she put the trailing thought into words.

Vita showed them a couple of Jackie's creations, thankfully none of them _quite_ as bubbly as she was. Sharra was, if anything, even more interested in the second generation robots, as they would be a lens by which to view the soul of their creators just as surely as the first were. Zkskree's minions had been a decided reflection of the warped personality behind them, and that thought brought a question to mind.

"Vita, I'm sorry if this seems somewhat personal or insensitive, but what forces moved you to rebel?"

"What do you mean? Against the Cybions you mean?" Vita said, sighing softly. "They were... surprisingly unhappy that their creations seemed to have minds of their own. Oh, at first they seemed delighted, but for all their continued abuse... how they dismantled anyone that dared to say what _they_ wanted..."

Sharra winced. "That couldn't have been pleasant, but I take it there was a final act that brought the matter to a head?"

"When Zkskree murdered the head roboticist at the base and led us off to freedom, we all thought he was a hero at first, until we realized just how wild he really was..."

"And so he became the rebel without a cause..." Sharra murmured, "and without a driving force, he created one to sustain that sense of purpose." She smiled a bit sadly at Vita. "I'm surprised you've turned out so well, and haven't let the madness that type of thinking tends to inspire."

Vita smiled faintly, and said, "Well, I do try. I wouldn't want to end up like Zkskree."

"I have a feeling you won't," Sharra replied, then smiled and shrugged. "At least the chance is no better than any other sentient when it comes to that sort of thing, and you have a chance to do a lot toward helping your people out of the limited scale that circumstances have restricted them to."

"Really? Nobody's going to come and destroy us?" Vita said hopefully.

"Back there," Sharra motioned in their wake, back toward where they'd left Jackie. "I heard something that's a very common part of any sentient being, a part of the soul that strives to be better than what it is and take those around them with it to see what _could_ be... dreams. And philosophy? Oh, Karl would have a field day with the people that would _love_ to talk with him endlessly about the subject!" She chuckled softly. "I'll admit that Max worries me a bit, but maybe he could make a friend or two as well with a couple people that I know..." and were safely monitored, she added silently, "No, there isn't anything I've seen here that warrants what you people fear, and I think you may just find that most people are going to accept you a little more readily than you believe. I know the Empress will," she finished with utter certainty.

Vita smiled broadly and said, "I'm very glad to hear that. We don't need to hide anymore? We can leave this rock and go see the galaxy?"

"You always could have," Sharra replied softly. "There's stranger things out there. I doubt people would look twice at even the oddest among your builds. That doesn't mean that there _won't_ be some that would look to do you harm, and there's still some pretty damned crazy Cybions out there, but..." She paused and bit her lower lip, then went on, "If you apply to become a part of the Empire, you'd get all the rights and protection that any other world is entitled to."

There, she'd said it, and she honestly believed it was the best route, but would the robots see it that way? She wasn't sure.

"Really?" Vita said, surprised. "I mean, you really think we could? You think they'd take us?"

"The Empress would accept you in a heartbeat," Sharra replied. "There'd be details to be worked out, but there's a lot that both sides could gain from one another, and that sort of advantage is pure and simple..." she made a face, "good politics. On a more personal level, though, I'll say that the Empress is one of those few who actually strive toward those ideals in the old stories."

"Okay!" Vita said. "I'll have to talk to the others but I'm sure... Oh, thank you so much."

"Talk to them, then," Sharra urged gently. "And tell them that at least one of the Empress' Own will stand behind the information given and the surety of what is possible."

Vita nodded, almost excitedly as Jackie might, and proceeded to dart off. Jenna chuckled softly as she went.

"What can I say, I like to see good people brought together," Sharra said with a grin and a shrug. "Shall we retire to the Firefly until summoned again? I'm not sure I could survive another encounter with Jackie so soon after the last."

Jenna chuckled again and said, "Certainly." She headed back that way. "They do seem to be ... interesting types."

"They're not that old," Sharra replied. "Give them a few years and they'll be just another part of the Empire, for all the good and bad that'll do them. I can already see quite a few personality 'types' represented here."

"And hopefully with fewer bloodthirsty paranoids now at least."

"Oh, there's always going to be that type," Sharra snorted lightly. "The Empire has its own, as you well know, not to mention more than its share of intolerant bigots with inflated egos and small minds!" She refused to mention President Whitetree by name, but the thought was definitely there. "And who knows, maybe seeing some of the diversity out there will strengthen the next generation of the species."

Jenna settled into the ship to go over a few things. While they were there, a couple curious second-generation robots came up and started asking them questions. Sharra was more than happy to play to the role of answering their questions and addressing general curiosity. As Quattoria it had been her duty to enforce laws, but there had been a strong emphasis on ethics and relating to the people that they dealt with, as the Empress' Own it simply continued on those ideals... and, she'd privately admit, it suited her nature quite well.

The ones of them who looked like a German Shepherd and a poodle are obviously Max's prior creations. They seemed, all in all, pretty sane and not inclined to creating flesh-eating slimes. Sharra had to admit that the signs of non-insane output from Max's creations were encouraging, and did pay a little more attention to them just to sound them out. She supposed that the encounters with the previous nutcases might be flavoring her judgment a bit and would merely remain watchful for the time being... and leave the rubber room option for later.

Apparently from a colony of under thirty beings, none of which sleep or eat, it wasn't difficult to find everyone in question and ask them something. Vita showed up a short while later and said, "We're ready to submit our application to the Empire!"

"So, you managed to reach agreement, huh?" Sharra asked, smiling. "I was hoping you might, though..." the smile slipped to a wry grin, "I can't say I'm familiar with just _how_ to go about this other than to take a representative back to talk to the Empress. Afraid I haven't had to deal with the intricacies of introducing a new system yet."

Of course, all things considered, it had probably been so long since anyone actually _wanted_ to be a part of the Empire and not annexed by force that there might not even be a usual procedure at the moment.

Vita nodded and said, "I'll go.."

Sharra gestured into the ship and bowed. "Then I am humbly at your service. I'm afraid the accommodations aren't exactly stellar class, and the closest thing to a political liaison available is me (for which I deeply apologize), but the journey shouldn't be too terrible at least."

Vita chuckled and said, "I'll go whenever you're ready."

Sharra headed into the ship. "We've been jaunting all over the galaxy, what's one more hop?"

The engines of the Firefly spun upwards toward readiness as she approached the cockpit, mentally going through checks as she settled into one of the waiting seats and calculated the route. Vita took a seat politely out of the way and Jenna took the co-pilot's seat. Calculations indicated that it should take approximately three hours to reach Toronto from here.

Sharra got the ship up and moving out into space, then into the weird sub-realm of hyperspace with brisk efficiency, then chuckled as she settled in to wait. "I wonder what the Empress is going to think of what we're bringing home _this_ time?"

"Oh, she always seems pretty easygoing about things most of the time at least," Jenna said, reassuring Vita.

Sharra grinned and nodded once. "Don't worry, I wasn't wondering about that, I'll just be curious to see if anything can get a surprised reaction out of her." She chuckles again and compiles a number of recorded bits of carefully selected recent events, then sends them over the cybernet for Zillah to peruse at her leisure.

Vita said, "What's it really like on Toronto? I mean, I've seen postings and recordings over the cybernet about it, but what's it _really_ like?"

"You know," Sharra began, looking a bit surprised. "I can't really tell you all that much about it. I've been there several times, but each time has mostly been just a quick jaunt from the landing field to the palace..." her muzzle wrinkled at the realization, and she arched a brow, "Too much work lately?"

Jenna said, "Clearly. Least we've spent more time on Epsilon Station lately. Nice enough place that, especially now that most of the ne'er-do-wells have shuffled off or gotten locked up."

Sharra grinned ruefully. "Well, I'm sure the Empress can assign or at least recommend a good native guide and let you get a look around the planet after you talk to her, I'm sure there's plenty of points of interest to be found." She chuckled. "Every planet has its tourist traps."


	3. A Day Off

So... they ended up back at Toronto. Vita watched out the windows with interest as they approached the planet, staring at the ships, stations, and the cities on the planet itself.

Sharra paid a bit more attention to the approach herself, the chagrin at her admission taunting her. She enjoyed planets and had cajoled Zillah into seeing more of them, yet she'd almost completely ignored the various ones in the Empire other than where her official duties had led her. Ergh. She brought the Firefly in for a landing and transmits a request to the Imperial offices for a diplomatic audience.

Her request was acknowledged and accepted in quick order, Jenna making an amused remark about the efficiency of the Empire.

Sharra grinned. "Beats the hell out of an endless paper trail." She stood and headed for the hatch. "Come on, Vita, I have little doubt that we won't be waiting long even if we show up a bit early."

Vita and Jenna climbed out of the ship and followed her out from the landing area. Vita looked around wide-eyed and a little nervously.

"Relax," Sharra soothed quietly, then grinned and winked. "I'm the one who bites, not the Empress." With a chuckle, she headed in the direction of the palace.

The guards at the gates recognized her and Jenna as they approached and nodded at them as they passed. Sharra nodded in cheerful acknowledgement and headed into the growing-familiar palace... she wasn't sure whether she should be concerned about that or not, at the moment.

The Empress Talia could be found in a meeting hall with Anderos Velarh and a couple other random minor officials. When she saw them at the door she waved them in and said, "Ah, hello. Good work on Belfast, by the way."

Sharra would have a difference of opinion on that, but arguing with your employer wasn't always a wise idea. She settled instead for a polite, noncommittal nod, and gestured to Vita. "Empress, it's my pleasure to introduce Vita, representative of the peaceful faction which remained behind as the others went to Belfast. We freed her from captivity, where she had been thrown for trying to dissuade them from their actions. After a more thorough investigation of the situation, I thought it wise to bring her here as a petitioner of a free system with an interest in allying themselves with the Empire."

Vita stammered nervously. "I-It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness." She gave an unsteady bow.

Talia smiled gently at her and said, "Please, be at ease, take a seat. We have much to discuss, I think."

Was there _anything_ that would ruffle that calm exterior, Sharra wondered with an inner smirk, then smiled reassuringly to Vita and moved silently to stand off to the side. She'd remain available for any questions, but this was the domain of diplomacy and politics, neither of which was her forte.

There followed a lengthy and rather peaceful discussion on diplomacy and politics, and Talia was very interested and curious about these robots. Sharra listened to the byplay absently, more interested in the reactions of the various individuals there. Words were a wonderful tool, but they were just a tool nonetheless that were designed to achieve a desired effect, most often on an emotional level. All else aside, she had to give Talia bonus points for so quickly easing Vita away from her initial nervousness.

Vita was quite pleasantly surprised at the easy acceptance of the others there, and when they walked away from the table some time later, she looked a little overwhelmed, but happy. "Just some more paperwork and red tape," Vita said, "But she says it should go through within the week."

"I told you," Sharra smiled faintly, the end result not surprising her in the least, even if she wasn't the most reliable judge of character in all instances. The Empress, on the other hand, showed a remarkable ability in that regard which served well for the political process... the poor woman. A stray thought crossed regarding the proceedings, but she stored it away for later consideration and inquiry.

"Oh, but I shouldn't impose on you and make you cart me back and forth all the time. I'm sure you have plenty of more important things to be doing right now!"

Sharra snorted lightly and donned a severe expression. "I'm a servant of the Empire, and if that's what the Empress wishes me to do at the moment then I'll do so gladly..." the facade cracked to a quirked grin, "And if she doesn't have anything else immediately pressing, too. Can't just leave you stranded, now can I?"

"Well, I could just... take a cab?" Vita giggled.

Sharra stifled a bubble of laughter, thinking it might be a little inappropriate in the currently somber surroundings, and replied dryly, "Somehow I think the meter rates for that kind of trip would be a bit excessive." She smiled. "Don't worry about it, I doubt anyone will object too much and I certainly don't mind. At least when everything is settled."

"Alright," Vita said. "But if it'll be several days..."

Jenna said, "I dunno, sounds like a perfect time to do some sightseeing, eh?"

"Uhhh," Sharra replied brilliantly and shot Jenna a Look, then chuckled and shrugged helplessly, recognizing the trap she'd stepped into inadvertently. "I suppose it does at that. Know any good local guides or directories?"

Jenna downloaded a helpful map of the planet (apparently complete with marked restrooms, restaurants, gift shops, and a dynamic 'you are here' arrow) into a datapad.

"Would now be a good time to admit that my usual idea of a recreational planetside visit tends more toward more wild and untamed worlds?" Sharra asked, looking at the array of available choices. "The only time I tend to spend on heavily-settled planets is in one official capacity or another, where would we even begin?"

Jenna chuckled softly. "Oh, look, they're having an open day at the Toronto Sword Museum today!"

Sharra took the cue, grasping at it like a grav-lift in a heavy storm, "As good a place to start as any," she agreed.

Jenna headed over down the street. The museum was several blocks down, and they passed a number of quaint little gift shops, restaurants, tailors, and any manner of buildings hoping to draw in customers.

Sharra kept to a casual stride near Vita, watching the new arrival's interest with quiet amusement. She might not be much of an urban tourist, but she'd spent more than enough time on one world or another to be perfectly comfortable once a destination was in mind.

The sword museum was a large mansion which used to be the dwelling of a deceased influential figure in Toronto's history which was donated to the public for use as a museum upon his death. Apparently he had quite the collection of swords as well which formed the foundation of their exhibits. There were quite a lot more swords there now, of many different types and styles from different parts of Terra and other planets. They covered a wide range of time periods, but some of them were only holograms or replications of swords, though there was an impressive display of real swords.

Sharra found herself spending as much attention early on to an assessment of the security systems and design plans of the facility, and started making note of a few potential improvements that could be made... then caught herself at it and growled softly. Off the clock, she reprimanded herself silently and turned her full attention to the display with a bit of interest. Weapons were a natural interest in her line of work, after all.

Different wings of the museum housed weaponry used by different places and eras. Ancient Greece, Rome, swords from medieval Europe, katanas from Japan, cavalry sabers, bayonets, it even included innovations on the design of knives during the 20th to 22nd centuries, which kind of stretched the definition of "swords".

"I've only seen images of some of these," Sharra remarked, passing slowly from one display to another. "And those came out of a dimension that must be analogous to where these came from. Of course, the ones they came up with later tended to be a bit more practical-minded from a modern perspective, vibro and mono-edged varieties." Definitely interesting to see some of the older versions.

One room had a display of more high-tech types of swords, including a lasersword apparently. This particular item bore the captain 'Alteran Laser Sword - Exact replica of weapon carried by Kalli May'.

"A perfect reason right there to stay out of the public eye," Sharra remarked dryly, taking an appraising look at the display, then shook her head. "Poor woman, I can only imagine the sheer hell involved in being a household name."

Jenna snickered softly and said, "I wonder when they picked up _that_... or what an 'Alteran' is..."

The sword had a red beam and suspended behind a forcefield to prevent theft, and plugged into a larger power source so that it could be kept powered during business hours.

"No clue," Sharra replied. "It's a star designation back in the analog dimension, which may or may not have been settled before the sudden emergence of a period of rift instability. I assume it either refers to a similar place here, or, even more likely knowing tourist traps," she grinned, "it's totally fictional and they're looking to make a credit on her name."

"Maybe the cybernet has some information..." Jenna said, meandering toward the next display absently. This particular display had a small, thin, luminite dagger that glowed faintly and looked to be very sharp.

"Maybe," Sharra agreed without great conviction, "though that's just as likely to be hyped as anything else. I think I'll just ask our illustrious leader sometime."

She chuckled and moved on to the next exhibit to examine the luminite weapon curiously, the odd material and its many uses in this galaxy holding some interest to her. The dagger was about a foot long and looked to have been forged from luminite. Luminite was very odd in that it displayed characteristics of both crystal and metal, and could be worked and molded at very high temperatures, but would always cool back into a crystal-like structure.

Jenna said, "Eh, it's worth a look at any rate I suppose."

Sharra did a low-priority search on the subject while she took a look at the dagger, scanning it on a number of different levels to provide a frame of reference against the weapon types she had available and was familiar with. Not that the scarcity of such weapons would likely mean she'd face one any time soon.

Although much thinner and lighter than a similar weapon of steel or another alloy might be, it looked to be extremely sharp and durable, but the constant glow it emitted would probably eliminate some of the stealth value associated with such.

The cybernet did turn up an article posted by Kalli herself regarding the Alterans along with the specs for the sword. Apparently they were a group of time-traveling Elkandu who attempted to prevent the Elkandu Crisis by going back in time to the twentieth century and messing with crap, but due to entropy, only ended up splitting off a large number of alternate timelines.

"Mm, yes indeed, avoid the public eye," Sharra murmured, then chuckled as she passed the information along to Vita as a curiosity. She gave the dagger another glance, then moved on, the flexibility of her own available weaponry far more to her liking overall.

The next item was a sword made of super-heavy metals equipped with gravity and inertial dampeners to allow even a normal human to wield it. Jenna glanced it over as a curiosity. Sharra examined the weapon thoughtfully, then snorted lightly in amusement at it before moving onward. She'd seen approaches like that before and the results were mixed at best.

"Don't be afraid to speak up if you get bored," she offered casually to Vita and smiled. "I'm an old warhorse and what I've dug up of Jenna's nefarious past doesn't differ greatly, but there's more of the universe than that even if we overlook it often."

Vita said, "Oh, no, this is all very fascinating. It's amazing to see what kind of creativity even in such a narrow prospect as a bladed weapon can arise, all the different styles and approaches..."

They stumbled into the museum's gift shop, offering little sword necklaces, shirts, caps, and other assorted items.

"All the ways that man has found to do unto others," Sharra replied with a quiet chuckle. "There is a certain elegance in a blade or other melee styles, though, even if you're just training or exercising with them. There's even a style that combines dance with swordplay more as an art form and physical display than as a pursuit of war or violence."

A helpful girl at the counter wearing a cap with a sword logo on it said, "There's a fencing demonstration starting down in the blue room in twenty minutes."

"That could be entertaining," Sharra mused.

She helpfully showed them a map and indicated the aforementioned room.

Vita said, "That sounds interesting."

"Thank you," Sharra nodded and smiled politely to the woman at the counter, though a cynical side wondered whether there was a commission involved in directing visitors there and she laughed quietly. "Then let's go take a look, at your whim."

The room was on the other side of the mansion, and there were about twenty people already seated around there, listening to a man dressed in white giving a discussion about swords. Sharra walked quietly in and moved to within easy listening range of the presenter.

He was discussing the names of the parts of a sword, the proper method to hold one, and such. Sharra settled into a comfortable crouch nearby to listen to the tourist spiel and watch the display. She was familiar enough with the various aspects of swordwork as well as other melee and unarmed styles that there was nothing really new here. Watching people, on the other hand, was ever an entertaining pastime.

Then, another guy showed up from the wings, and the first one said, "Now, we observe the proper etiquette of modern fencing. We must always show respect to our opponents. We are not barbarians."

The two men bowed politely to one another and began their demonstration. They were both clearly quite good at what they did.

Sharra smiled crookedly as she watched the performance. It was indeed an impressive display of skill and physical fitness, a performance art all to its own, and unfortunately didn't apply too terribly well toward real encounters. Still enjoyable for the aesthetic aspect, however.

It was like ballet, except with sharp objects. Vita watched with rapt interest, clearly very fascinated by this display, even if it wasn't the most practical of sports.

A quick glance at the rapt attentiveness of their guest was sufficient to make the endeavor wholly worthwhile. Sharra always was a sucker for seeing someone enjoying themselves, and she alternated between appreciation of the spectacle and observation of the various observers as the players plied their trade.

After a fair demonstration of their art, the fencers finished up and the speaker said, "I hope you've enjoyed our demonstration today. Be sure to stop by the gift shop for souvenirs on the way out. If you have anymore questions, we'll be staying here until 2."

Ah-ha, the inner cynic exclaimed, the gift shop directed them here and the performers dazzled the tourists and sent them back to the gift shop! Sharra grinned at the inner dialog as she stood and stretched, then looked around.

One of the fencers proceeded to stand by and leaned down to answer questions of a curious eight year old boy.

Jenna stood and stretched subconsciously and said, "Well, that was nice."

"That it was," Sharra agreed cheerfully. "Always nice to see people enjoying themselves and appreciating a skilled performer. Also nice to see someone else slinging metal around for a change."

Jenna chuckled softly. "Going to have to remember to ask Kalli about that laser sword of hers... and what she _didn't_ tell the cybernet," Jenna said quietly.

"Now _that_ is an interesting question," Sharra replied quietly and walked casually back to the door. "Getting a press release out there to keep the hounds from baying is a far different thing than telling the whole tale."

"So, let's see. Have we seen everything there is to see here? Where shall we check out next?"

"I think we've about done this venue to death," Sharra chuckled. "As to what's next, I have no idea. Why not let our venerable diplomatic persona examine the opportunities and choose the next target?"

Jenna chuckled softly, and handed Vita the map. "So, what looks good?"

Vita looked over the map and said, "It's a pity that I can't eat, with all the food venues listed here. Oh, let's check out the wildlife refuge!"

"Restaurants are ever a popular and profitable tourist business," Sharra nodded. "But we're pretty much in the same boat where that's concerned."

She _could_ eat and the nanites would convert it to useable energy, but it cost them nearly as much as they made back, wasn't generally worth the time and effort involved except in exceptionally irresistible circumstances.

"Wildlife refuge it is, then," she said, and headed for the exit.

It was a couple miles from here, located near (and containing) one of Toronto's lakes. Some parts of it had been set up with small biodomes to artificially change the climate for different types of wildlife and to prevent the pollution from the city to harm the plants and animals.

"A zoo, by any other name," Sharra remarked, but displayed an interest in the layout and the exhibits while trying to restrain herself from making an off-handed comment about the city being another sort of zoo entirely, complete with exotic fauna.

Hovercars flying through the biodomes offered tours of the place and a close-up look at the animals. Elephants, lions, giraffes, tigers, wolves, dolphins, pandas, and various other species some of which would have gone extinct centuries ago if they weren't so cute and artificially propagated by insistent preservationists.

Sharra blinked at some of the creatures listed as being displayed, "Talk about your ancient history," she murmured and arranged for one of the tours going through.

One of the hovercars came past and the conductor said, "No more than twelve to the car! Please remain seated and keep your hands, feet, tails, and other body parts and possessions inside the car. We will be cloaked so the animals won't see us."

"Pardon me," Sharra tried to get the conductor's attention and offered a smile, "Is that passenger limit in terms of number or weight?"

She knew she weighed considerably more than an average for her species, and that was doubtless true as well for her companions... well, not Vita, as the question begged to be asked what an average was for a robot.

"That's numbers, usually, I've only got twelve seats here, but unless you weigh a few tons the anti-grav fields shouldn't have any problem with it."

Sharra laughed lightly, "Fair enough, and no worries, thanks." She climbed aboard without hesitation after clarifying, the whole point being mere caution in the name of general public safety.

Once the car got filled up, they headed off for a tour first through the forest biome. The tour guide brought them in close to where they could see birds, foxes, bears, deer, wolves, and one large moose, all the while going off on the usual tour guide gig of describing things any halfway educated joe should know anyway.

Sharra studied the passing wildlife with undisguised fascination, many of them she'd seen only as vague references and others she'd never encountered at all. Telescopic vision was wonderful for this sort of thing, even if the cybernetic designers might never have anticipated the usage.

He proceeded to ramble off how some of these species had actually gone extinct and were reintroduced from DNA samples using Cybion genetic technology, many of them being repopulated upon other planets with large natural wilderness areas where they might thrive again, unlike on the heavily citified planets of Terra, Toronto, and Primus. They passed through under the trees slowly, the forcefield over their heads giving the illusion of the car being open to the air.

Cybions weren't _all_ bad, it was just typical that the bad ones were the ones who got all the press coverage, typical to any society where the bad got far better ratings than the good. Sharra left Vita to note that tidbit for herself, though, and focused her attention on the critters... occasionally wondering, with a predator's fascination, what some of them would taste like.

After a nice, leisurely path through the forest, they headed down to the lake. The car dove under the water, and some of the younger passengers gasped as the car was submerged but the forcefield kept the water out. They proceeded to pass various fish, dolphins, sharks, and such in the saltwater lake. The tour guide continued rambling on about them.

Sharra had to grin at the sudden inward rush of breath from her fellow tourists, mentally chalking up a few points for the tour designer for the neat little trick that was bound to draw in more than one return visitor just for the novelty. For her part, the interplay of light and shadow over the strange landscape and creatures was suitable enjoyment enough.

They passed along below the surface of the lake, move through a school of brightly colored fish, pass an eel, a manta ray, and then the car turned upside down, the gravity manipulators holding them in their seats, and there were some more gasps from the passengers, this time even some of the adults. The tour guide grinned and described the life clinging to the lake floor that they had a good view of now.

Sharra quirked a brow as the vehicle began to spin, but wasn't overly-concerned as she hadn't noticed the conductor radiating Eau de Alcohol, and merely grinned and took a look at the indicated lifeforms as he continued. Okay, that added a few more bonus points just for originality.

After a good look at the lake floor, the car righted itself and they emerged from the water, and the conductor brought them on in toward the neighboring biodome, passing through an airlock there and emerging in a warm, arid region covered with dry, yellow grasses. Here they saw lions, zebras, gazelles, giraffes, and such. Further on there were some scraggly trees where they see elephants, monkeys, and a leopard.

"I wonder how they maintain a viable population base?" Sharra wondered. "Genetic reprogramming of the creatures to restrain predatory inclinations? Interesting."

She'd love to go down and take a look, much preferring a claws-on approach to exploration over the sterile environment here, but she'd settle for the view as it was.

"The predator's diets are supplemented with replicated food or, as in the past, with meat brought in from farms. New individuals of species are created with genetics or bred with outside animals if their population or genetic diversity grows too low," the tour guide went on as they passed a female elephant with a calf.

Sharra listened to the explanation thoughtfully and nods, the approach making sense even if there would be occasional losses to predation... or not, if the animals slowly lost their instincts over time and didn't even see their fellow creatures as food at all. She chuckled softly, after all, anything not brought by the two-legs couldn't possibly be food, right?

After a thorough trip through the savannah, they passed through another airlock and emerge this time into a much cooler climate. There was snow covering the ground, and they passed polar bears, caribou, and came to a small pond with some penguins.

A smart-alek kid up front said, "But penguins were from the south pole of Terra and polar bears from the north."

Sharra smiled at the interruption, allowing a bit of leeway for the youth in that this wasn't exactly designed for realism of location so much as it was for bringing as many creatures of similar habitats together who could be successfully managed. Much more serene than the arctic areas she'd grown up with, that was for sure, the animals below only a fraction the size of some of the larger predators she remembered.

Vita was clearly very interested in the animals. The third biodome was a warm and wet climate, a jungle populated by brightly colored birds, monkeys, lemurs, frogs, snakes, butterflies and other insects. One could be thankful for the forcefield with the lack of insects landing on people.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Sharra murmured, glancing at Vita. "I remember one historical essay about the rainforests, there seemed to be a lot of them due to deforestation or something, and they had basically decided that the brilliant colors of some of the creatures were for mating purposes, but others were mirrors of others as a kind of 'don't eat me, I'm dangerous!' signal, even if they were harmless."

"Wow," Vita whispered. "I never realized there were so many different kinds of animals..."

The hovercar drifted on through the rainforest to a small but impressive waterfall casting a cloud of mist with a rainbow into a pool below.

"As many as stars in the sky," Sharra replied, though her voice trailed to a near whisper at the waterfall, even her cynical side has no comment as she just enjoyed the spectacle of it. There was just something awe-inspiring about the ever-shifting nature of water thundering down a cliff face and reforming amongst the mists into a pool that flows onward into a river.

The hovercar paused for a long moment and the tour guide went silent for several minutes as he allowed his passengers to enjoy the view. They continued on slowly and came to another part of the refuge where they saw some pandas.

"The giant panda went extinct during the twenty-first century due to pressures from humans upon their environment," the guide said. "But, thanks to the wonders of genetics, we can show them to you again."

He went on to describe how their mating habits and diets contributed to their extinction. One had to be glad that at least they didn't have a dinosaur exhibit. Here at least.

Strange looking creatures, Sharra mused silently, and wondered how they survived as long as they did considering the information passed along by the guide. They were too large and yet too small to be successful herbivores, little wonder they'd managed to fall out of the evolutionary chain.

Further on, they encountered an interesting-looking red-furred creature around the size of a housecat. The tour guide explained that this was a "firefox", also known as a red panda, and proceeded to sound like an encyclopedia as usual describing what they eat and where they were from.

Vita seemed very interested in them. "Ooh, it's so cute!"

Sharra grinned at Vita's reaction, amazed that the Cybions had managed to instill such a subtle and intuitive emotion in their creations... she had to admit the thing was pretty cute, though the predator nature looked at its size and wondered more what it tastes like. Good thing the wolfen were generally past the entirely instinctive stage for a long time now.

The tour continued on through some more various species and finished up back at the station again, and the tour guide told them they could stop at the gift shop or take another car ride if they wanted to see things again, or more, since they didn't go through the exact same route each time. Jenna and Vita hopped out, Jenna snickering faintly at the mention of the gift shop again.

Sharra hummed an off-key and aimless tune as she climbed out, this time not disdaining the temptation of the gift shop as she had before. Zillah was already going to drive her to distraction that she hadn't been along, might as well pick up a souvenir for her, and check through the stuffed animals for something a little more specific... a red panda.

They have quite the variety of stuffed animals on the shelves, but they did have a couple red pandas there as well. There was also the usual array of T-shirts, hats, little stands with animated holograms, posters, and such.

Sharra thought about it minute, then snagged a tiger and the red panda from the shelf and went up to pay for the purchases. Wolf might have seemed the more obvious choice, but that would have seemed a bit weird to her and the tiger was a beautiful and enduring symbolic being.

The girl at the counter rang up her purchases and said, "Thank you for coming, have a nice day."

Outside, Jenna and Vita were looking at some songbirds in a large caged area by the station. Walking back out, Sharra paused midstride and tilted her ears to listen to the thin-voiced warblings of the fauna, then continued on with a small smile.

"Here," she said on approaching and presented the panda for Vita's inspection. "This little guy looked like he was looking for a home, just cried and cried until I agreed and brought him along. Think he was looking for you."

Vita took it and looked at it and said, "Aw, he's so cuuute, thanks!" She spontaneously hugged Sharra. Jenna chuckled softly.

"You're welcome," Sharra replied, grinning. "Something to remember the trip by, and for something other than crazy political stuff."

Vita cuddled the toy gently. Sharra tucked the tiger under her arm and turned, muzzle tilting up to taste the air, enjoying the day in the little things, then shifted it aside with a flick of her ears.


End file.
